Only 0.2% of votes invalidated so far

By the early hours of Thursday morning, only 0.2 percent of all votes in the 2021 parliamentary election could not be counted because they were invalidated, news wire ANP reported based on results received from municipalities. At that time, over 200 of the 365 municipalities had submitted their counts.

The Overijssel municipality of Olst-Wijhe had the most invalidated votes by 2:30 a.m. at 0.6 percent - three times as many as in the previous parliamentary election four years ago.

In the 2017 election, 0.3 percent of all votes cast were invalidated.

Due to the coronavirus, elderly voters were allowed to vote by mail this year. Earlier this week it became apparent that around 8 percent of these voters hadn't followed the postal vote instructions correctly, and their votes could therefore not be counted.

Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs therefore decided to adjust the mail-in votes procedure slightly so that most of these votes could still count.